Franchised versus Non-Franchised?

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www.r2rc.co.uk

This is a move to help non-franchised motor repairers get access to vehicle Fault codes by reducing the current trend by vehicle manufacturers to provide data only to their franchisees. Leaving only the most mundane tasks to owners and private garages. Well, we have seen how difficult it is getting these day to even change a headlamp bulb, so if you want to see what the r2rc thing is about and lend your weight to their case on removing this monopoly, take a look.

Didn't you post this earlier

Yes but it didnt seem to grab anyones attention so I re-posted, I dont want us all sleepwalking into a world where we have no option but the Dealer option, and all be held to ransom for Diagnostic checks and repairs

All manufacturers have to use standard universal codes for faults, these are used by scanners etc that are freely available. The codes are freely available on the internet and all this is done through European legislation to maintain vehicles and make it possible for law enforcement officers to check vehicles by the roadside, the fact that diagnostic information is available on ebay and other websites also means info is freely available. If dealers have to pay to get software which enhances those codes then why should independants get it for free? Also Fiat has an online manuals which are available to anyone who pays a fee and gets a password and user name. I am fairly sure that these have been mentioned before elsewhere.

The independents have the problem that a franchised dealer specialises in a certain brand where as independants by there nature tend to do more varied vehicles, but does this mean they shouldnt pay to get access to information like the dealers have to?

I support good independents, but there are too many out there who ring us up not wanting advice but ask us to fix the car for them over the phone, the psychic mechanic rules ok!

I'm sure you are much more clued up on this than I am Numan, I didnt see the "get the codes for free" piece though? Its along the lines of having your car serviced by a Main Dealer for Warranty purposes, the Govnmnt / EU stopped that for fair competition, but independents are saying they cant get the same access to codes as Franchised dealers, whether they pay for them or not.

Oh and I am in Telecomms by the way... NOT an independent Garage owner

Ok a quick search on tinternet found this

http://www.bba-reman.com/content.asp...rary_obd2_eobd

http://www.auto-diagnostic-codes.com...Injection.html

http://www.pikit.co.uk/peugeotmt/eobd%20u%20codes.html

http://www.pikit.co.uk/peugeotmt/eob...explained.html

The bottom one explains that this is a european standard coding system, and therefore the codes obtained by any code reader are the same. It really does a very good job of explaining what all the numbers and letters actually mean, its a good article, and worth reading.

https://www.technicalinformation.fia....jsp?lingua=en

This is the technical website that is exactly the same as we dealers use, so any info we have is available to anyone, you just have to pay for it. We pay for it as an annual subscription, you can pay for a single days use.

As I said earlier, because dealers concentrate on one brand they can invest in that brands knowledge, independant specialists can also do this if they choose to. But this will put there costs up and obviously the hourly rate would need to increase to cover these costs. Independents that are not specialists are in a more difficult situation as they cannot afford to invest in every brand, BUT they can afford to use technical websites like the one above on a "need to know" basis. And then pass on that cost to a single customer.

Anyone can also go on Fiat technical training courses, you do not have to be a dealer, all you do is pay the same course fees that dealers have to pay and contact the training academy. From memory course fees are either £175 0r £200 a day.

Hopefully this shows that just because we have the Fiat franchise doesnt mean any of our costs are less than anyone else. Dealers costs are huge and that is why as pointed out several times most independants would be cheaper in an hourly rate comparison.

As an example there is a recall on a vehicle at the moment which requires the use of a very specific tool, this costs £100 and is only of use to us for this one recall, we will carry out probably two recalls (its on an idea, very few out there), in which we need this tool. Fiat will not pay for the tool, we have to. The cost of the tool isnt covered by the labour cost. So we are doing work and instead of making money or breaking even, we actually lose money. Independents dont have to do this, neither do they have compulsory training at the above costs, neither do they have compulsory tool purchases where Fiat send you £1000 of specialist tools every other month without you asking for them.

What the website seems to want is equality with franchisees, unfortunately are the independants willing to accept the costs as well?

Just had a quick look at the fiat technical site and one question - is the "Spare Parts" catalogue they have for sale, actually the ePER catalogue? (that would explain why they suddenly put so much effort in copy protection )

Eper is all online and accessed in a similar way to our way into the tech website, so I would guess its exactly the same as I cant see why they would design two different systems. By the way the passwords are changed every 4 weeks or more often sometimes for the dealers in an attempt to get the sites as secure as possible. Some of us have access at home though lol.

I change it when i'm in bad mood (daily) as it annoys everyone